The Genetics Training Program at UCLA is now entering its 29th year of activity. Its objectives are the recruitment genetics-oriented UCLA students into a defined program that enriches training, monitors progress, and prepares for postdoctoral work and beyond. Its rationale is based on the continuing need for research into fundamental genetic processes such as the mechanisms of gene regulation, genetic recombination and transfer, DMA damage and repair, epigenetics, the genetic basis of disease, and so forth. These areas often overlap the application of genetic technologies to other fields. The program's design is to identify faculty with research projects related to this rationale, identify and recruit like-minded students, and join these faculty and students into a program that emphasizes breadth in genetics training, teaching of genetic principles and methods, in depth research analysis of genetic mechanisms, and creation of the necessary talents for conveying their discoveries and conclusions in research publications and in professional seminars. All trainees are at the pre-PhD level. Requirements and oversight continue until degree. Of the 17 trainees now in the Program, 11 are supported by NIH and the balance by institutional or individual awards. Currently, 18% of our trainees are from under-represented minorities. We request modest increases in the slots provided by NIH, whilst continuing institutional support. Trainees come to the Program at the beginning of their 2nd year, having completed the bulk of their coursework, some seminar obligations, but no TAships. All have rotated through 3 or more labs and have joined one. If appointed as trainees, they receive 3 years of full stipend and fees support (pending annual evaluation and reappointment), and must meet a series of Program requirements during that time (progress, specific TAing, seminars, etc.) or soon afterward. Time to degree averages 5.8 years for our trainees, a bit ahead of the average.
The work being accomplished by our trainees and their mentors is highly relevant to public health. Some are working on the agents of infectious diseases, including viruses and the bacterium that causes Anthrax. Others are working on important diseases that have a genetic basis, including heart disease and attention deficit disorder. Others work on some of the most fundamental of genetic process, all of which underlie diseases at one level or another.
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